my cabin was 400sqft when it was built in 1850 and has since been expaned to a wopping 625sqft... next year i'm gonna put a dormer in so i can have an upstairs.
Posted on 12/31/2006 3:10:03 PM PST by Lorianne
Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are creating strategies to encourage the development of modest, more affordable houses ___ In these three Pacific Northwest cities, the progressive power of urban planning is taken very seriously, and concepts like livability and sustainability dominate the local civic culture to such an extent that to visit all three in rapid succession, as I did in October, is to drop in on another country. It’s not the United States or Canada, but a more highly evolved combination of the two.
In each city I was impressed by major developments, dramatic projects that promised to refresh the urban landscape in conspicuous ways.
It was in Seattle, however, where I saw the best small house. Dave Sarti, who co-taught a design-build studio at the University of Washington last year, had constructed an 800-square-foot house with a 160-square-foot double-height attached workshop. It’s a sweet fire-engine-red box planted in the backyard of a Central District home. I walked down the grassy driveway past an unremarkable blue traditional home and was surprised to see this Bauhaus cube where another yard might have a swing set.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Town and Country magazine (yep, I read it at the dentist's) has an article about how even the very wealthy are going small, at least in second homes. Although, they don't call them houses, they call them "jewel boxes". :)
The cost-per-square-foot of a smaller house is often greater than a large house. But if done right, that extra unit-cost would translate into higher quality.
Personally, I would rather live in a smaller but high quality house than a large, cheaply built 'mansion'.
That's what happens.
The real problem, of course, is that it reduces the value of the neighborhood over time. Land holds its value; structures depreciate. So a monster mansion on a 1/4 or even 1/5 acre lot has its value mostly in structure, while a modest ranch on 1 1/2 acres has its value mostly in the land. It's a setup for a real crash in 25-30 years when the structures won't be worth much (especially given the shoddy work that passes for upscale construction these days.)
Code words for "we got ours, screw any newcomers."
If you have a family, maybe. But for just two retirees, much less is better. That's just space you have to heat, cool, repair and clean. I don't know if you watch HGTV or not, but I'm noticing something of a trend afoot along those lines in the real estate shows. At some point, more isn't better, it's just more (work, money, trouble, hassle).
Once you've lived in a nicely designed small home, you just look at your standard "big house" and groan at all the wasted space.
As soon as the kids are all out of the house, it's back to a little house on a big lot -- with a pole barn out back for all the hobby stuff.
The PAC NW is a MAJOR liberal/communist country.
The less homes & highways built the more they show success.
LOL. Three or more bathrooms sound good until you realize you're the one scrubbing all those toilets...
I work in surveying in King and Snohomish Counties, WA, so I deal regularly with land use issues and regulations. The prevailing governmental attitude here is "We, the Government, know best." Rather than allow people to fan out normally, they designate Urban Growth Areas (UGAs), where high density is allowed. This allows them to keep large amounts of the counties at low density yet regulate what owners there can develop. (Recall the recent regulation in King County prohibiting development on up to 90% of 10+ acre lots.) In the UGAs, houses can be built with as little as 6 feet between foundations, with eaves being much closer. The first time a house fire spreads to burn a whole neighborhood, these idiots might rethink their paternalistic regulations. Maybe.
I know a builder who keeps costs down by only building to a limited number of designs. His designs are practically modular, in that whenever a house has similar features, such as bathrooms, they are built of prefab framing and plumbing, but I suppose that must be nearly industry standard.
High quality and quickly finished, because all of the workers always build the same way, just arranged diferently. He also pays high salaries to keep good people working hard.
Very nice floorplans, double-pane windows and high R factor insulation. He works in W. Oregon and S. Washington.
Come to think of it though, he only builds on owner-prepared sites. The permits, water, sewage and electric must already be in, ready to connect. He does offer consultation services to owners.
The sad part of this whole discussion is that the new bright-eyed neo-nazis truly believe that they are onto a new excitng concept!
Wrong-o!
I've been hearing and dealing with that sick refrain since homes sold for $15,000 --- in Marin County California --
LOL!
my cabin was 400sqft when it was built in 1850 and has since been expaned to a wopping 625sqft... next year i'm gonna put a dormer in so i can have an upstairs.
See my reply, # 29. It is mandated to a large extent, at least in the greater Seattle area. Insofar as gov't regulations decrease the supply of available land on which to build, supply and demand take care of the rest. Here, demand is constant or increasing, and prices go through the roof.
My kids are grown and out of the house and I'm single. I keep all but one bedroom closed up with the vents closed. The only thing I use is one bedroom, one bathroom, the kitchen and the garage. I don't even use the living or family rooms. I could use a lot smaller house, but I'd still want my big lot and big garage and shop.
Yawn. Let 'em live in a little cracker box and feel all warm/fuzzy/progressive.
I, on the other hand, am an American. My tastes run 'larger'.
Not if you live in an area where the average home sells for $500,000+.
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